Vote at a polling station
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Polling stations in Barnet
You can vote from 7am to 10pm on polling day at your polling station.
Before any election, always check the details on your poll card to see which station you should be voting in.
New ward boundaries
Your polling station may have changed.
Find out more about the new ward boundaries
Poll cards
Poll cards will be sent to everyone who is registered and entitled to vote at the elections.
Your poll card tells you your voting method and where your polling station is located.
You do not need your poll card to vote on polling day.
Identification
You don't need identification to vote, staff at the polling station will take your details and cross off your name on their checklist.
Polling station opening times
Polling stations are open at 7am and close at 10pm.
If you arrive at the polling station before 10pm and you are still waiting to vote at 10pm you will be allowed to cast your vote.
If you make a mistake on the ballot paper
If you make a mistake whilst marking your ballot paper in the polling station, you should ask the presiding officer for a replacement paper.
Your spoilt ballot paper will be taken from you and will not be placed in the ballot box.
Assistance with voting at polling stations
Every polling station in Barnet has:
- a device to help blind or partially sighted voters to vote unaided
- at least one large-print version of the ballot paper displayed inside each station to assist partially-sighted voters
- any voter with physical disabilities who is unable to vote without assistance or who is unable to read may be assisted either by a companion or by the presiding officer at the polling station
- polling stations are wheelchair accessible
Helping people with learning disabilities to vote
Mencap has produced an easy read guide to voting for people with learning disabilities. It explains how to register to vote as well as the different types of voting. It has been written together with the Electoral Commission.
In addition, Every Vote Counts have also created useful guides available on their website for people with learning disabilities.
Photos in a polling station
No photos are allowed in polling stations.
If you forget to return your postal vote
If you have applied to vote by post, you cannot vote in person at the polling station.
However, on polling day you can return your postal vote to a Barnet polling station before 10pm.
Your unique ballot paper serial number
The law requires every ballot paper has a unique serial number and a record is kept of the serial number of every ballot paper issued to every voter.
At the close of the poll, the documents which list the serial numbers of the ballot papers and the list of to whom they have been issued are sealed in special packets and cannot be opened unless a court order is given to do so.
The reason this is done is to enable checks to be made should a legal challenge be made to the result of the election. It is possible in UK law for the result of an election to be challenged through what is known as an election petition.
It is possible for the eligibility of an elector's right to vote to be challenged in the courts after an election. If the challenge is successful, the court can order that the ballot papers of any electors who were not eligible to vote be retrieved and their votes discounted, and the result of the election changed to reflect the removal of these votes from the total.
This is a very unusual occurrence.
There are legal processes in place to protect the identity of electors and how they have voted from being discovered. It is only in circumstances where a court orders that it should be done.
There is only a very short period in which a challenge can be made 21 days from the date of the election, and if no challenge is made in that period, all documents are subsequently destroyed.